


One Snowy Night

by XanderInkWaster



Category: Stephanie Plum - Janet Evanovich
Genre: Betrayal, F/M, Fanfiction, Lies, Love, Mystery, Romance, Truth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 10:28:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18990844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XanderInkWaster/pseuds/XanderInkWaster
Summary: Can you trust someone you love despite them never being open with you? Can you truly love someone who hides their past?





	One Snowy Night

Stephanie felt the soft flower petals under her bare feet, her steps light and delicate as she manoeuvred through the minefield of clothes trying to pick out her own. Scanning the room in the dark, she grabbed her underwear and awkwardly hopped on one leg as she put them on, her balance nearly failing, but a well-timed recovery prevented her from an embarrassing moment. She blew out a small breath and glanced around. Her bra must have landed somewhere in their rush to get into bed after dinner, but she couldn't recollect where it went...or how it had gotten removed for that matter.

Looking down at her feet, she flipped her dress over with her toes, but found nothing, her skin tingling as she glanced out the window into the cold night, the snow still falling gracefully outside. And then she saw her bra dangling from the curtain rail. 'How did that get up there?' she thought to herself as her brows furrowed at it. Skipping over to the window, she jumped up and caught her bra with a hand, pulling it down as her own body was brought back to the floor by gravity.

She landed half crouched and glanced over her shoulder to see if he had stirred awake. She didn't want to wake him just yet. When he didn't move, Stephanie stood and fixed her bra on before quickly throwing her dress over her head. The room went completely dark for a few seconds as she wiggled the dress into place, arranging and rearranging until it fell perfectly over her curves. Heading over to her heels, she picked them up, her head turned towards the bed as she made for the door, still watching to see if she'd woken him.

Stephanie didn't dare shut the door behind her completely because he was very alert to the slightest of sounds, and she didn't trust her skills at door opening and closing. Once she made her way down the corridor and into the living room, she saw the smouldering glow from the log fire he'd lit a few hours earlier. She rubbed her arms, not necessarily from the cold, even though it was cooler out here in the open room. Suddenly the warmth of the bed made her want to run back and jump in like a kid again.

Still holding her heels in one hand, she moved closer to the fire, the small glow illuminating her dark purple dress. She tossed on a few logs and took the nearest seat. The flames licked at the fresh fuel like an animal getting food, and soon the fire was blazing again. Stephanie slipped on her shoes and grabbed her phone from the small table beside her. The flames made the wood crack, emitting sparks that flew out onto the stone placed around the edges. Stephanie took a moment to enjoy the growing warmth.

Then she slid the lock screen up on her phone to check her messages. Most of the cabin getaways she knew offered no WiFi so that couples could bond better with nature, but fortunately here that wasn't the case. The signal may have been a little harder to come by in certain spots of the cabin, but at least it was available. Especially since she had sent Ranger an email asking for a favour and was waiting to hear back from him. It had been two days, but he was quick at finding out information and background checks on people. In fact, he was the best she knew at doing it.

There were a few messages from her family and a few random pieces of junk mail, but she ignored them. She only needed to scroll down a little, and then she saw the short and simple message she'd been waiting for.

Check your inbox.

Stephanie's thumb hovered over the screen as she read the message over a few times. She had asked Ranger for this favour, but now that he'd done it, she wasn't sure she wanted to know. She didn't want to find out this way. She had wanted to be honest with him and let him open up, but after almost a year together, he still hid behind a wall that even she wasn't able to break through. It was hurting her, but she didn't want to tell him despite how frustrated she had become. She also didn't want to press and hurt him. At first, she reasoned it could or would take time, but over the last year all she had ever gotten was more and more questions about him.

Stephanie felt a twinge of regret at having asked Ranger to run the check on him—as if he hadn't already—but she wanted to know the truth. Or at least some form of it. Any insight into who this man was because she knew the longer they went on like this, the smaller the chances of a full commitment. She could see their time together was physical and meaningful at the start, but he had been almost shy in his confidence to take her. As time went on, he had become more involved, but it had always been one-sided. She'd introduced him to her friends, her line of work, and had even told him about her family. He, however, hadn't ever shared about his past. It was always living in the present with him.

A burst of flame snapped Stephanie back out of her daze, and she realised her phone screen had gone blank again. She unlocked it with four taps of her thumb and went straight to her email. Ranger had one of his Merrymen create a secure firewall on her phone a while back so that sensitive information could be passed with less risk of it being hacked. A good thing too. This file probably had "top secret" written all over it.

She found the email at the top of her inbox and opened it.

Stephanie sat in the chair for an hour without moving, the heat from the fire now dwindling and going down again, but she didn't top it up. Her body was still numb from what she'd just read, and she was unsure what she was supposed to do now. She wasn't sure how she felt either as all her feelings and emotions seemed to be clashing with everything she'd thought she'd felt and knew about him. Some of it was just too hard to accept and yet some of it made perfect sense. Everything she'd read seemed to fit, but she just couldn't accept it.

She rubbed her thumb over the screen, back and forth, her mind analysing what she now knew. An incoming text message made her phone buzz softly. It was Ranger.

You okay?

She looked at the small words and brought her phone closer to her face before replying back.

I don't know...

Did you read the email?

I did yeah. Did you?

There was a few moments pause before her phone buzzed again with a response.

If I'd read it, you would already know. Anything wrong?

Stephanie stopped herself from a quick reply and took a moment to consider the question. "Anything wrong?" she asked herself and thought about what to say. Her phone buzzed again.

Steph, what is it?

Nothing, she sent back.

I know you're not ok. What was in that document?

Stephanie dropped her phone onto her lap and sniffed a little. She didn't want to say anything to anyone until she'd had a chance to speak with him.

It's ok. I'm fine. There was nothing in the document. He's clean, and there was no criminal or alarming information on him.

She sent off the text, and Ranger's reply was swift.

Good. Because the boys and I would have gotten you out ASAP. I still don't trust him, Stephanie.Be safe.

I will. Goodnight. She locked her phone and ignored his next text.

The fire was still glowing, but the flames were now small and flickering instead of roaring. She didn't know how long she'd been down there, but she thought it best for the time being to head back upstairs. There was still a lot to sort through, but he'd be down soon if he realized she wasn't there. Over the time they'd spent together, she had grown accustomed to his silent movings; so much so that she could pick him up when he wasn't trying to be stealthy. And every so often she could feel his eyes looking out for her, always ready to jump in front of her. Always ready to protect her.

Removing her heels once again, she padded up the warm wooden staircase towards the bedroom. Glancing into the room, she saw his figure beneath the covers breathing steadily as the blankets rose and fell. She squeezed back through the door and quickly undressed down to her underwear before snuggling back into the bed beside him.

Her thoughts continued to race in the silence. Once she had snuggled down again, she felt his weight shift behind her. "Wanted a midnight snack did you?" he murmured.

"No I..." she coughed and cleared her throat. "I just wanted to get up for a bit. Watching the snow fall was peaceful," she added, keeping her back to him. She noted that he wasn't putting his arm around her as he usually did.

"Everything ok?" he prodded, his hand touching her shoulder. She instinctively jerked away slightly, then cursed herself for doing so. But either he hadn't noticed or chose to ignore it because his hand stayed where it was and rubbed her arm.

"I wasn't sleepy, but I am now," Stephanie whispered. His hand moved away.

"I can fix you some Horlicks or a hot chocolate if ye like?"

"No, no it's ok. Go back to sleep. I'd be too tired to drink it anyways."

She kept her back to him; didn't even turn her head to glance at him over her shoulder, and it seemed to work. He didn't press her further, nor did he get up to make her a drink. Instead, he turned his body away from hers and went back to sleep.

Stephanie lay there in the dark, her thoughts still running around in her head and repeating over and over what she'd read in the email, which was the most frustrating and disturbing thing ever.

The file had been empty. There was nothing. It wasn't that there were no bad points, arrests, history of military or government employment. There was literally NOTHING on him. His age, date of birth, name, family, where he was from. It was void of it all. Like the man didn't even exist. And this information had come from one of Ranger's sources inside the CIA. She'd even provided a DNA sample and still nothing corresponded.

What kind of man could simply exist and not exist?

Was he a ghost?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not entirely sure yet if I want to wrote a chapter 2 to this or not so I've left it open at the moment.


End file.
